After arriving from a very pleasant flight from London/Heathrow via Brussels, we had some hours to spare in Kigali before heading to Johannesburg via Lusaka.

Part one: London-Brussels-Kigali
Part two: Kigali-Johannesburg (you are here)
Part three: photogallery of the trip

In Kigali, RwandAir offers their very own Dream Lounge, which was developed (and is currently operated) in a joint venture with Kuwait’s National Aviation Services.

The lounge, as was the airport, was fairly simple, but even though it was ”rush hour” in Kigali Airport, it was fairly empty anyway.

Nevertheless, it was a pleasant wait having a drink and uploading some photos before our next flight.

These were the departures for the day. Notice our next flight, WB106, showed as ”via Lusaka”. Save this information for later…

An hour or so before departure, we started walking to our gate. Again, the airport is very small (another one is on the way), so it was fairly easy to get there.

WB106 KGL-LUN-JNB

Since they are quite focused on connections in Kigali, they do not require migration for passengers who are only connecting. They do, though, have safety screenings to get to the gate area.

People were already waiting for boarding to start — which happened on time. The screen showed our flight was going to Lusaka still.

Boarding was cleared on time, and it was fairly organized. We made our way to the aircraft by foot.

Our aircraft for today’s flight would be 9XR-WR, a 737-800 named “Muhabura” after one of the highest mountains in Rwanda.

According to Planespotters.net, this aircraft was delivered brand new to RwandAir on May 2017, having flown to the airline ever since.

This livery rocks, by the way. I really like these colors — especially their tail, as it’s an interesting choice of colors.

The first impression of the cabin was really good. These seats really look very fresh.

RwandAir’s four 737-800 are configured with 16 seats in Business Class and 138 in Economy Class. This is the same display as Ethiopian Airlines’ and nine seats more, in Economy, than Kenya Airways’.

Pillows were also left in every Business Class seat, too, despite being a short-haul hop.

Another look at the Business Class cabin.

Again, welcome drinks were offered, and I took the sparkling wine.

This first hop would not really be full, with three passengers in Business and 55 in Economy.

Doors were closed seven minutes before the final scheduled departure, at 10h53. By the way: we did not realize then, but when we had our tickets in hand, the original departure timing was 09h40.

Pushback followed in time, just as this VIP 737-700, which operates for Abu Dhabi’s RoyalJet, arrived in a nearby section of the apron.

But my favorite avis rara we saw that morning was this Antonov 76 from Sudan.

Taxi was short, and at 11h05 Captain Vasilis Avramidis started to raise the throttle, and the 737 started running through Kigali’s runway 10. Carrying 8,800kg of fuel, 9XR-WR weighed 69,187kg, still some way under its maximum take-off weight (MTOW) of 75,000kg.

The flight was quite smooth that morning as the day looked perfect one to fly.

I spent most of the flight talking with Thiago, who was helping with the pictures, so I didn’t really need the headset, but it looked the same as the one they’d offered in the flight from London.

Right before the onboard service started, we started to hear some people yelling in Economy Class. It took us some time to understand, but they were arguing with the crew because, apparently, the flight would not land in Lusaka, going straight to Johannesburg instead.

And I think they discovered it with the speeches by the crew saying that the flight was headed to Johannesburg — no mention of Lusaka in any of them. At the time I thought it was just a mistake by the crew, but indeed that was through. And they were rightfully furious. Apparently, however, they were able to not escalate the issue any further.

Now, obviously this is not something that is the crew’s fault — they were just assigned to the flights they were going to operate that day, and they did so with safety.

As far as I understood, that was the fault of RwandAir’s commercial and/or operational department, who found it was okay to just cancel one of the legs of the flight, since we were stopping in Lusaka on our way back anyway. No mention of advising customers of that very important change, and I hope there weren’t any going from Lusaka to Johannesburg, because they would be stranded (hope at least them were advised their flight was canceled!).

And that is why the timings were adjusted so that the flight could leave later from Kigali (11h00 instead of 09h40), something we had not even noticed before.

That is just unacceptable. At least the crew took care of the issue very well — and again it was not their choice –, keeping a very professional attitude throughout the flights and at least trying to minimise discomfort for everyone.

But our fellow passenger in Business Class, for instance, planned to connect in Lusaka to a Kenya Airways flight to Nairobi, which now he apparently would miss. You could tell he was not pleased by that.

Back to the good things, soon after this “unrest” the lunch service started, this time with no written menu. I picked the meat option. And it was the best one of the entire trip.

The dessert didn’t disappoint too. It was more than what I’d expected for this three-and-a-half-hour flight.

Now onto the seats, they had standard (mechanic) controls, which was okay for a recliner Business Class seat.

And because that was a Sky Interior plane, the Economy Class cabin also looked very fresh, albeit with no personal screens. As a comparison to the 737-800s of its peers in Africa (Ethiopian Airlines and Kenya Airways), only Kenya’s newest jets have personal screens.

The flight passed quite quickly as we chatted and edited some pictures of the trip.

At about 14h30 we landed in OR Tambo International Airport in Johannesburg. At least that was way ahead of time (30 minutes for the JoBurg passengers, versus the original time of arrival)… but at the expense of the passengers that were going to Lusaka.

Because we were returning to Kigali, we had to get out of the plane and board another time, while staying at the gate as the airport agent would print the new boarding passes for us.

Still, for the twenty minutes or so we spent there, the terminal looked quite modern and underutilized.

That is likely because, apparently, that was a pier only for regional flights within Africa, with not many flights on schedule.

By the way: it seems the departure time from Johannesburg was also changed, so we would leave at 15h50 instead of the original 16h30.

WB106 JNB-LUN

Again the flight was not really full, so boarding proceeded very quickly and on time.

Before departing, I spoke with two of the pilots that were taking care of us that day. Both were Europeans, and the kind of “professional expat” pilots, if you will, though they had been at RwandAir for some time by then. Captain Avramidis was also the chief pilot of RwandAir’s 737 fleet.

Naturally (and that’s a very natural phenomenon in many countries), as RwandAir grows faster than the country can supply pilots, they have to hire people from abroad. It was a very interesting talk with the two — and it sounded that this was one of their favourite expat gigs of their careers.

Our flight to the capital of Zambia, that afternoon, was carrying five passengers in Business Class and 88 in Economy.

We left the gate on time, and during taxi, we saw some A340s that became very famous just recently.

Taxi to the runway was lenghty, but at 16h05, 9XR-WR starting running through one of OR Tambo International’s runways. Our 737-800 weighed 68,461kg, near its MTOW of 70,000kg, though I’m not sure why the MTOW was 5,000kg lighter in this flight. We were also carrying 13,320kg of fuel, much more than needed for this particular leg.

In any event, finally we were on our way to Lusaka!

This time — the flight’s duration was around 90 minutes — the bite was simpler, but still very tasty for a snack.

For now, we would stay chatting and watching the flight go by in the overhead screens as we overflew so many beautiful landscapes.

Some more pictures of the cabin. I loved this detail of their logo in the bulkhead.

The Business Class seats each had their individual lights, too.

The flight passed quite quickly, though we were starting to get worn out from over 24 hours of almost nonstop flying!

Descent into Lusaka was simply fantastic. All the landscapes soaked by that wonderful sunset was just worth the flight.

At 17h40 we finally proceeded with a smooth landing in Kenneth Kaunda International Airport.

What was quite fascinating in Lusaka is that they have this shiny new terminal which, it seems, we barely used. Instead of using these facilities, we stopped in an adjacent position there.

While I haven’t found much about who actually runs the airport, it seems that the Zambian Government developed the project with Chinese funding, and they have been struggling with their debt for years now.

The airport was officially opened in 2021 and, according to the Lusaka Times, as late as November 2022 the company commissioned to construct the terminal still urged the government to pay their balance. The report says the terminal does work, so I’m not sure why we didn’t park there.

At least we parked in a remote position so we required minimal ground support. And it made for some fantastic pictures, as you will see in part three of this series, coming soon.

In Lusaka, some passengers left while others got on board, as this flight had a convenient connection time in Kigali towards Europe.

WB106 LUN-KGL

The night had already fallen when we got on our way. We had eight customers in Business and 85 in Economy class (I can’t help but think a 737-700 could have done the job).

It was 18h50 when, weighing 63,414kg, under our MTOW of 70,800kg and carrying 8,820kg of fuel, 9XR-WR roared out of Lusaka.

For this last leg, we were all very tired, so I started scrolling through the Business Class’ personal entertainment screens. I almost ended up watching a Chinese movie (Being Mortal, original title “来处是归途”, 2020), but while the beggining was quite interesting for an average drama, there just wouldn’t be time to watch it fully.

I ended up watching a PBS interview with the Rwandan president, Paul Kagame, where the presenter shows the natural beauties of the country, marked by bits of interviews with him. The documentary, “Rwanda: the Royal Tour” (2018), is available on YouTube too.

For dinner, a very tasty beef…

…finished with this small mousse, very good too. Again the presentation was very sweet with their own cutlery and their own branded glasses.

And of course, some coffee, too. The meal was great for a short-haul flight and the service by the crew was very professional and lovely. Staff is just a fantastic asset for RwandAir, and it showed throughout our experience with them.

While I would definitely get some sleep on our flight back to Europe (that same evening!), I tried to stretch a little in the 737. This is the maximum recline of the seats, which is good, otherwise it would annoy the passenger in the back.

Finally, as I finished the documentary, we started our descent to Kigali.

And the landing back in Rwanda’s capital didn’t take long. At 20h55, 55 minutes before the original time (I’d lost track by then), we arrived back in Kigali.

Taxi to our position did not take long and soon we were on our way to the terminal, as 9XR-WR was already being prepared for its next flight.

And so was 9XR-WQ “Kalisimbi”, named after Rwanda’s highest mountain.

It was now rush hour in Kigali: our flight could connect onwards to Doha, Mombasa, Dubai, Nairobi, Addis Ababa and, finally, London (with the stop in Brussels).

Final remarks

There is a clear separation in RwandAir. One, the fantastic personnel, the good onboard service, the clean, fresh cabins and the growing, convenient network.

Now, for instance, they are serving Brussels and London with separate flights; they are connected with Qatar Airways’ hub in Doha (the Qatari government is, through its airline, investing in a 49% stake in RwandAir), while Paris and US operations are in the making, too.

On the other side of this seemingly unequal balance lies how they run this convenient network. Cancelling the first leg to Lusaka is, for whatever reason, plainly unacceptable. And what’s more, it seems they didn’t even let the crew know so they could give any justification to customers, who were rightfully annoyed.

Putting their people in conflict with customers does not seem, in any event, a reasonable strategy. And that is one that will not gather any loyalty from customers in the short, medium and long run.

On a positive note, I do think RwandAir has the tools to provide excellent services. As I said, they have got a good product, good catering and fantastic professionals. These short-haul flights were really enjoyable and comfortable if ignoring that one great flaw.

But it’s past time they sort this divide. Their country needs this reliability if they want their flag carrier to bring more tourism, more recognition and, more importantly, greater economic output. The base is already built, and RwandAir has the professionals, the product and, hopefully with Qatar Airways’ know-how, the funding to do just that.